Odalisque Parfums de Nicolaï for women

Odalisque was the first of Patricia de Nicolai’s perfumes I tried, and I’ve been a fan from the first sniff. There is something about the way Odalisque is blended that it has a much smoother arc than so many other green chypres. The oakmoss isn’t bitter, and the top notes aren’t sharp. I suspect it’s the use of lily of the valley and what smells like gardenia. I can’t think offhand of other chypres with a dominant muguet note, and I think the dewy roundness of the note eases things. Also, if it’s gardenia that I’m catching, it’s got a little of that earthy almost truffly feel and counterweighs the floral coloratura.

Not to be dogmatic here, but this doesn’t really seem totally like a chypre to me. I definitely find it to be a mossy floral, but, even though the PdN websites lists the notes of bergamot and mandarin up top, I don’t get the bergamot sharpness. The green in Odalisque is wet and grassy and I attribute it to the lily of the valley. The fruit is almost peachy or apricot. I think the fruits and florals are beautifully proportioned and allow the moss to be the gentle counterbalance without seeming too dark or bitter.

Whatever the genre, Odalisque has an hypnotic, almost narcotic quality. This is the scent equivalent of eating lotus flowers. Odalisque makes me want to lay in and enjoy the lazy pleasures of life.

Edit: I've just tried the most recent iteration of this at ScentBar. I now know the despondency of the reformulation blues. It smells as if the chypre portion of the fragrance has simply been removed without any attempt to compensate and what's left is a watered down floral. PdN can certainly do a pretty floral, but the notion that by comparison we suffer is really brought home to me. I'll treasure the bottle I have.

Another elegant floral from PdN. I don't get the green chypre notes that others have mentioned, perhaps due to reformulation. However, what I do get is a very pretty, wearable floral scent with a slight salty note in the background. (It actually reminds me a bit of Ysatis?)

This is quite long lasting and one of those fragrances that puts you in a good mood.

Pleasant but somewhat wishy-washy. Not a patch on Diorissimo, the Empress in this category. But I would wear it for daytime. On the whole, it's better after a few minutes of spraying whereas Diorissimo is good from first to last -- and beyond.

I like it, mea culpa:). It's old-fashioned in some way, and yes, it's not Diorissimo (which I like very much, too), it's much more dusty, chypre-green, I feel orris and musk and oakmoss in it. According to PdN website, top notes are green citrus, bergamot and tangerine, heart: lily of the valley, jasmine, orris, oakmoss, base: musk... It lasts long with medium sillage, the heart is the most beautiful to my nose, and for me the base isn't unpleasant at all.
However my favourite from this house is Le Temps...

According to boisdejasmin's blog, the notes included are: bergamot, mandarin, galbanum, jasmine, lily of the valley, tuberose, ylang ylang, patchouli, oakmoss, amber, and castoreum.

An Odalisque is a lonely woman.

The word converted into French by some orientalist traveler back in the Ottoman days as odalisque is actually odalik - oda meaning chamber/room in Turkish, an odalik was a kept woman in the chambers that were provided for her - today, we simply call her mistress.

So, I keep thinking if this bright chypre/floral is really appropriate for a mistress. For me it lacks the lust and the mystery of a woman whose only purpose is to please whoever got her "oda" for her. But I have read that it's been reformulated, perhaps the true odalik spirit lay in the original formulation.

1st sniff: Lightly behind a nondescript floral is another smell--salty, soft smoke, maybe seaweed or even fresh sweat. It's peculiar but pleasantly so. I find myself imagining a campfire in the distance on a beach.

Half an hour later: Oh this smells heavenly! The florals have bloomed and put out nectar, like real flowers (not so real that I can identify them). There's something kind of dreamy about it. The moist flowers are lovely, but demure. The sweat/smoke is faint so that even though I keep catching it, I also think it might be my imagination.

Drydown: The nectar has dried up. The florals are a blah, perfumy stereotype. The soft smoke and salt is long gone. I don't recall seeing musk in the scent pyramid, but I smell some. When I sniff my wrist, it's not bad, it's just not fantastic any more. If only this were a linear perfume and the heart carried on forever.

The sillage was modest and the longevity was just about perfect. The opening notes lasted maybe fifteen minutes, the heart an hour or perhaps two, and after six, the drydown is quite faint.

I read (on other sites) that many get a lily of the valley dry down with this. So, I did a side-by-side comparison to Caron's Muguet de Bonheur. And, no. Muguet is buttery yellow and fresh, and Odalisque is a screechy weed. Many have mentioned that this has been reformulated, which has to be a shame for it's original admirers.

On another note, does the title make anyone want to yodel? Come on: "High on a hill was a lonely goatherd
Lay ee odl lay ee odl lay hee hoo."

As I went about my evening this played in the background of my cluttered mind. Soon it became: "Loud was the voice of the lonely goatherd
Lay ee odl lay ee odl- lay ee PEW!"

That was my hint that it was time to wash. I'm not used to panning a Nicolai scent, but this is really harsh on me. No matter how long I waited, or how hard I tried, I could not get the faintest smell of sweet jasmine. It was just goatherd poo, all night long.

Her take on lily of the valley, but don't expect Diorissimo. This is lily of the valley in their setting, the wet woods of Spring, where the earth is coming alive after the frozen season. It does have a chypre feel to it, as the notes of the dry down show up even shortly after the first ten minutes, and they just grow as the eight hours progresses. Two spritzes are enough. Low sillage. One of my favs.

After releasing a thundercloud of lily and jasmine, this fragrance takes on a fierce, angular, and faintly tinny green demeanor that, to my nose, borders on the unpleasant. If you came to PdN via Odalisque and came away disappointed, don't be discouraged -- PdN has many more (and far more lovely) scents to offer.

I wholeheartedly agree with everything NLS said. All I'd like to add is that Odalisque reminds me of a stronger, greener version of Byzance. If you like Byzance, give this a try, otherwise I'd check out Sacrebleu Intense or Fig Tea from this company! :)

Floral? I'd say Odalisque is more like Chypre Floral or straight-up Chypre. Odalisque is the first perfume from Parfums de Nicolai that I have tried, and I'm glad I bought just a small sample.

About two hours in, it's very lovely. Nothing new or special, but it smells like a classic example of a non-sweet, chypre floral. Reminds me somewhat of Paloma Picasso or a less floral Patou 1000.

Unfortunately, for the first hour or two, I find it almost unwearable. It's very sharp and green, with a hint of that "cat urine" note that turns so many people off of the Chypre category altogether.

The staying power and sillage are decent.

I haven't given up on this perfume house, but I can't honestly recommend this scent. There are far nicer chypres, chypre florals or florals (whatever category your nose says is appropriate for this one) to spend your time and money on.